Your special feature comparing EOS 350D vs EOS 5D has left me a little bit unsatisfied. I learned a lot on digital equipment on your excellent website while considering moving to DSLR from the Leica world. What is the point though of using 350D rather than 400D as comparator to 5D? How would you answer this question which is the only relevant at this date?

I'm sorry the 5D upgrade feature left you a bit unsatisfied, but I think you missed the point of this particular article. As I explained in the introduction, it was written specifically for people who've owned a 350D or a 20D for some time and want to upgrade BUT find the 400D and 30D don't offer enough differences.

So the article explains what benefits they'd get if they upgraded to the 5D.

I agree there's also value in comparing the 400D against the 5D, but that's a different feature. This one was meant for people upgrading from an older model.

You can of course open the results pages from the 400D and 5D reviews side by side if you want to compare their noise and resolution results.

Also the discussion about lenses in the 5D upgrade feature equally applies if you're comparing the 400D against the 5D.

Thanks! Nice to know that the beautiful landscape used for your tests is from New Zealand (which city?). Brooding over these 2 cameras (400D and 5D) I was wondering what impact the new features of the 400D (dust reduction, new menus borrowed form 5D) were having on the choice. It looks like dust reduction might be worth an additional wait until the 5D successor(s?) offer it. What do you think? Are you planning a test on dust reduction efficiency? One more question about 5D: is a full frame sensor more demanding on lenses than 24X36mm negative film?

Hi Genevanipce, we're based in Queenstown in New Zealand's South Island and most of the Gallery and test shots are taken in the surrounding area - it's a beautiful place!

I would certainly expect Canon's future DSLRs to feature some kind of anti-dust feature, but if they're like the one in the 400D, they’re unlikely to be 100% effective. As I explained in my reviews, dust reduction systems are impossible to measure scientifically, so all I can do is tell you if I personally suffered from any - and I did with both the 400D and Sony A100. The 400D’s dust mapping feature and subsequent removal in DPP worked pretty well, but if my experience was average, you’ll still need to manually retouch a few yourself.

So ultimately I wouldn’t hold back if you’re only waiting for an anti dust feature. That said, a new ‘5D’ would undoubtedly have other benefits too.

That’s a great question about full-frame DSLRs versus 35mm film. While both share the same target areas, which means you’re using more of the lens, there’s an additional issue facing full-frame DSLRs. The light rays which strike the edges and corners of the frame do so at a shallow angle. This apparently isn’t much of a problem for film, which remains fairly consistently sensitive regardless of the angle the light ray hits it. But the DSLR sensor has tiny micro-lenses above each sensitive photosite / ‘pixel’, and when the light rays strike them at a shallow angle, not as much gets in.

The result for a full frame sensor is a reduction in sensitivity as you approach the corners, which in turn makes the effect of vignetting appear greater. You can really see this on this page:

Some of the vignetting you can see on the 5D samples is due to them being taken with wide lenses delivering full-frame coverage, but some is also due to the gradual loss of effective sensitivity towards the corners.

One solution could be to design the sensor so the micro-lenses towards the corners are actually off-set to better capture light entering at an angle, and Leica has already done something to this end on its new M8. This introduces other issues though.

It’ll be interesting to see how, if at all, Canon addresses this problem on future full-frame sensors. We’re expecting a successor to the 1Ds Mark II very soon, so perhaps that will hint at some technology which will end up in the 5D’s successor.